Hong Kong Library Education and Career Forum Steve O’Connor University Librarian The Hong Kong...

Hong Kong Library Education and Career Forum

Steve O’ConnorUniversity Librarian

The Hong Kong Polytechnic Universityand

Editor Library Management ,Library Management China

Library and Information Science is ..

• A good career• A varied career• A career at the edge of informational change• A career with good prospects for a small-ish

profession• A career suited for people who like working with

people• A career requiring courage, commitment and

progressive thinking!!

2HK LA Career Day August 2009 Steve O'Connor

A Profession in change

• The traditional library model is dead!– No more bookworms, hair in ‘buns’, silence in the

Library!!

• New model is evolving! Be part of it!– Service is much ‘push’ focused– Librarians ‘Out-Reach’ to customers– Library has a schizophrenic existence


What skills are required?

• Strong expertise in a chosen discipline• Ability to work and draw down ideas from

different disciplines• To construct an operational framework but to

be always able to think outside of it.


In Hong Kong?

• There are over 1,000 professional positions in Hong Kong

• Prospects are always good for working overseas• There are allied careers in publishing, research,

internet, information management, archival management and records management

• So, prospects are pretty good


Do you qualify and then rest?

• An emphatic ‘NO’ !!!!• You will undergo many changes in a career

lifetime• You will need to study, read widely, attend

conferences and think• You will need to contribute openly and

thoughtfully in your working environment… you are a Professional


What have I done?• I fell into this career• I have had such fun• I have been privileged to try and lead my

sector of the profession– Through Leading the professional association in

parts of Australia and Leading an ALIA conference– Being a University Librarian in two Universities

and a CEO of a company– Being an Editor of Library Management– Creating Library Management China


What have I done 2

• I have now worked in two countries• I have travelled all over the world with a very

wide network of wonderful colleagues• I am welcomed, as you will be also, into any

library in the world


Collaboration will be the mode of work into the future so get to know your colleaguesin similar libraries… you can and should work together

HK LA Career Day August 2009 Steve O'Connor 9

What not to do

• Never go to a conference without coming away having met 5 new colleagues

• Never come away from a professional meeting without a short list of things you could apply in your own Library

• Never fail to engage with your profession! It has a long and treasured history and you can contribute to its future directions.


Xie xie dajia


Hong Kong Library Education and Career Forum Steve O’Connor University Librarian The Hong Kong...

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